
OUR BENEVOLENT FEUDALISM 



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OUR BENEVOLENT 
FEUDALISM 



BY 

W. J. GHENT 



THIRD EDITIOX 



Nifo gorfe 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Ltd. 
I9O3 

All right* restrvtd 






": 



Copyright, 1902, 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped October, 1902. Reprinted 
December, 1902. 

Third Edition, with a new Preface, March, 1903. 



NoriaooB J0rm 

J. 8. Cushing & Co. — Berwick Si Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD 
EDITION 

Most of the reviewing journals have now given 
their judgment upon this book. But the verdict, it 
must be confessed, is indecisive. There is not an 
aspect of the argument which has not been variously 
viewed ; and there has been scarcely a judgment 
expressed in any quarter which has not been contra- 
dicted in some other. The reader who ingeniously 
suspects the book's purpose to be revolutionary, may 
suppose that blame will have come solely from the 
conservatives and praise from the radicals. But a 
look over the comments reveals no such line of 
cleavage; for the radicals have often censured, and 
the conservatives have often, though guardedly, 
commended. 

This expression of censure may be held to invali- 
date certain opinions expressed on page 176. Of a 
surety, the reviewing journals have not uniformly 
"made it their business to be 'nice.'" For once, at 
lea>t, the imprint of a prominent house has not 
served its usual office of warding off a hostile ver- 
dict. But the anomaly is not difficult of explanation. 
Some of the defenders of the regime have suspected 
e affront to society and have hurried to the 
rescue. Laws are silent in the midst of arms : and a 
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PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

well-known rule has been overborne in the face of 
an apprehended danger. 

But assuming, in this case, the entire sincerity of 
all the judgments expressed, it is amusing to note 
their contrarieties. On none of the criteria by which 
a book is judged is there general agreement. Re- 
garding style, tone, argumentation, purpose, trust- 
worthiness (or its opposite) of data, there is the 
greatest disparity. The author is not serious, say 
some ; he takes himself too seriously, say others ; 
and others again confess that it is hard to determine 
whether he is serious or not. The style is this, that, 
and the other. " It is colloquial and almost frivo- 
lous," asserts a staid publication of Philadelphia ; it 
is " declamatory," is a Pittsburg decision. The book 
is written in "terse, dignified English," says another; 
it is "well written and elegant in diction," reads an 
otherwise unfavorable review. So, too, with the gen- 
eral tone. The book is "a sneering presentation," 
says an Indianapolis oracle, "the author is a cynic " ; 
while a New York journal rejoices that it is written 
with such "ingenuity and urbanity." "The author's 
wit is not very witty," writes one. "The tone of 
gentle sarcasm," writes another, "would provoke the 
dullest to merriment." 

The temperament of the book is also a matter for 
a wide range of opinion. The author is " an avowed 
pessimist," says one; his book, says another, "veils 
a passionate hope ... for something more in accord- 
ance with his ideas of justice between man and man." 
The journal which deals out opinions to the "fit 
audience, though few" of Philadelphia municipal re- 
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PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

formers, declares that the book " presents a narrow 

and hopeless view, which by paralyzing all energy 
and enthusiasm would bring on fulfilment of its 
worst prophecies " ; while a Nebraska editor hopes 
that it may be " to the overthrow of baronial power 
what 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was to the overthrow of 
the slave power." 

[ts argumentation comes next. It is written in a 
"dispassionate, indisputable manner"; its author, ac- 
cording to another, " is a very logical and dispas- 
sionate writer.'* For all that the book is "illogical, 
improperly based, and unfair," and again, " the argu- 
ment from facts to causes is not seldom tinged with 
sophistry. - ' 

There is then the matter of its trustworthiness of 
data. "The facts stated are beyond dispute," says 
one; "it is remarkable for its painstaking study of 
economic statistics," says another. Still another 
avers that " its estimate of current industrial and 
economical tendencies is unanswerable." On the 
other hand, one of the professors in the benevolently 
endowed University of Chicago, though he kindly con- 
cedes that " many of its illustrations . . . seem to be 
based on knowledge," yet somewhat unkindly resolves 
many of its data into "venomous accusations." And 
an eminent dispenser of judgments in an eastern 
city declares — though with commendable prudence 
he withholds a bill of particulars — that "in the 
domain of proved facts [the author] wanders blindly 
and sadly." 

Finally, there is the summing up. A Toronto 
opinion makes the book "the most valuable contri- 
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PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

bution to economic literature which has yet appeared 
in America," and a Chicago verdict names it as " one 
of three books which every American should have 
at his fingers' ends." But an eastern Rhadamanthus 
overrules with the declaration that "it is composed 
of cheap raillery which will not need very careful 
consideration by serious men"; and a rather unamia- 
ble Socialist reviewer in New York City writes : " If 
you have a taste for intellectual juggling, the book 
amuses you. Nothing more." 

Doubtless, there is something to be said for each 
of these verdicts. There must be, for they represent 
the distilled wisdom of the accomplished men and 
women whose profession it is to instruct the public 
as to what it shall read. But it is evident that a 
further word of explanation is needed. Acceptable 
critics may disagree as to an author's style, tone, and 
reasoning ; but when disagreements arise as to his 
inclination and purpose, some portion of blame, it is 
likely, should fall to himself. 

Well, then, this is a serious book. If an occasional 
touch of satire is discoverable in its pages, as some 
of its more curious and penetrating readers have 
averred, the fact is probably due to a native bent 
and to a strengthening of it by an early acquaintance 
— now, alas ! well-nigh forgotten — with Pope and 
Dryden. But the argument is serious for all that. 
It is built upon authenticated data which no one has 
dared specifically to question ; and it pushes home to 
its natural and logical outcome the development of 
the tendencies of to-day. There is a possible alter- 
native outcome, it is true, which will be noticed 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

farther along ; but its mention was omitted because 
it was expected that a perspicacious reading public 
would be led to it unerringly and without assistance. 
No criticism so tar made, it is believed, has shaken 
the validity of any of its statements. There is little 
to alter ; though, on the other hand, there is much 
to amplify. Seven of the nine chapters could each 
be expanded to the dimensions of a book by the use 
of matter relating to incidents that have occurred and 
facts that have transpired since the date of publica- 
tion. Nor are any of its positions shaken. The 
thing predicted is not exactly a reproduction of 
mediaeval Feudalism, say some. True, but the term 
is repeatedly qualified, and the divergences from the 
older form are carefully stated. The political systems 
of Persia and England are greatly dissimilar, and yet 
both nations are rightly termed monarchies. Then, 
too, says a scholarly critic, caste, in its strictest sense, 
was not a feature of mediaeval English Feudalism. 
Nothing of the kind is asserted, though caste is pre- 
dicted for the coming order. But, even so, the term 
is one of varied meanings ; in its looser sense it could 
rightly be applied to the classes of mediaeval Eng- 
land, and even in its strict sense to the villeins. 
"The tenure of capital," writes another, "can never, 
especially in the absence of primogeniture, become 
hereditary and fixed." In the first place, the tenure 
of capital does indubitably tend to become hereditary 
and fixed ; and, in the second place, the matter of 
blood inheritance is but trifling if the prerogatives 
and powers of capital augment, or even continue as 
now. The landless warrior who could raise a suffi- 
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PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

cient following to wrest from a baron his estate, 
succeeded to all the privileges and powers of its 
former owner ; and the swineherd raised to the impe- 
rial purple was as much an emperor as one born in 
the palace of the Caesars. The philistine adage, 
"It is but three generations from shirt sleeves to 
shirt sleeves," which is so often used as an argument 
for the harmlessness of great accumulations, is not 
only less and less true, but does office for a pitiful 
evasion of the question at issue. 

Some of the Marxists will have it that Feudalism is 
impossible, because Socialism is " economically inevi- 
table." There is not room here for discussing this 
"economic inevitability." Nearly every argument 
that has been used in its support has successively 
broken down, and the remainder must suffer the 
same fate. If Socialism comes, it will come through 
determination and struggle, — as democracy came and 
as so-called individual freedom came, — though the 
struggle will be political and not military. Equally 
certain with the Marxists of the impossibility of 
Feudalism are the blissful optimists who hold fast to 
the faith that Providence looks after "fools, drunk- 
ards, children, and the United States of America." 
Everything will assuredly come out right in the end, 
they exclaim ; and, besides, the great American public 
would never submit to baronial control. But what 
mankind — and particularly the American public — 
will submit to, it may be modestly suggested, is still 
an open question. It is a far cry back to Venice ; 
but the history of the Venetian Republic might be 
profitably read by these optimistic fatalists for light 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

upon the question ol what a democracy will endure 
if only it be wisely compensated The Venetian 

democracy yielded, with scarcely a struggle, its po- 
litical powers to a small aristocracy, and during the 
five hundred years ending with the fall of the nation 
made no real effort to regain what it had given up. 
It received in return prosperity, pageantry, and glory. 
The first of these was sometimes — and in the later 
years generally — a delusion ; but the other two were 
always fostered. Our own democracy accepts a 
lesser compensation, though indeed it has not yet 
surrendered all its powers. Pageantry is so far gen- 
erally withheld. For pageantry costs money, and 
the magnates, though benevolent, are not prodigal. 
But prosperity — though in rather diluted doses — is 
given to us, and glory is fed to us constantly. Who 
can doubt that for a further yielding up by the 
democracy, pageantry also will be cheerfully given ? 

Certain observations in Chapter IV regarding the 
condition of the farmer have also met with objection. 
The rhapsodists of agricultural prosperity are quite 
A and insistent now as they were last November. 
Nothing apparently can dampen their ardor or their 
eloquence. The growth of farmers' organizations in 
the West ; the increase of tenantry and of exactions 
from tenants ; the fact, as now appears, that some 
six thousand farmers have emigrated to Canada 
within the last five years, have no terror for the 
rhapsodists. These incidents are but further con- 
firmations of prosperity. The statistical experts are 
all at work, and their figures indicate a flood of 
agricultural wealth. 

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L. Of 0. 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

One of the experts has recently shown that the 
gain to the farmers of the country on the cereal 
and cotton crops of 1902 over those of 1901 is 
$85,173,526. This is a large total, assuming its cor- 
rectness. But when it is divided among 5,681,257 
" farmers, planters, and overseers," their twenty mill- 
ion family dependents, and the 4,459,346 agricultural 
laborers, it yields a per capita gain of less than 
$3. This is not all the farmer's increment for the 
year, it is true. Though his cattle have fared badly, 
owing to the competition of range cattle, his hogs 
have sold well, and his hay, potatoes, flaxseed, and 
poultry have probably brought better returns than in 
1 90 1. With ample allowances and by employing the 
most approved methods of governmental figuring, it 
is probable that a per capita gain of $5 could be 
produced. Omitting the women and children and 
the laborers from consideration, the farmer's average 
gain might be placed even as high as $30. 

It would be interesting to learn what he has done 
with all his money. He has paid off his mortgage, 
answers the rhapsodist, sent his children to college, 
installed a telephone, engaged the service of a circu- 
lating library, and subscribed for a daily newspaper. 
There must have been something left over, for he 
is now, we are informed, buying a piano. Despite 
present admittedly high prices, it would seem that 
a dollar "goes farther" than it has ever "gone" 
before. 

The records and other evidences of a certain ag- 
ricultural county which the author has investigated 
since the publication of the book fail sadly to confirm 
xii 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

the foregoing representations. This county is in a 
mid-Western State. Diversified farming and stock- 
raising arc carried on, though being in the heart of 
the corn belt, corn naturally forms its chief product. 
It has many of the improvements which our rhap- 
sodists harp upon : the roads are gravelled, there is 
free rural delivery, there are a number of telephone 
lines, and the hum of the patent corn shredder and 
Dusker is heard in the land. It should be stated that 
these things of themselves are not necessarily a proof 
of large individual increases of wealth ; for the de- 
livery is of course furnished by the Government ; the 
roads are gravelled at the expense of the entire com- 
munity, and not by special assessment ; the telephone 
lines are generally cooperative, and erected, in part at 
least, by mutual aid, while the corn shredder is also a 
cooperative venture. Yet if there be prosperity any- 
where in rural America it is here. But the farm 
mortgage has not been lifted. It has been trans- 
ferred, in many cases, from an eastern to a local 
lender. But it tenaciously holds on, and it draws its 
annual tribute from the soil. Moreover, it is being 
added to. For the year ended May 31, 1902, new 
mortgages on farm property in this county reached 
a total of $464,326, an excess over satisfactions of 
$102,516. For the four years, 1899-1902(1901 ap- 
proximated), the excess was $329,935. The total 
mortgage indebtedness on farm property is estimated 
by competent judges at Si, 500,000, on an assessed 
valuation of $8,440,265, and it is confidently de- 
clared that 80 per cent of the farms (not of the 
farm acreage) are mortgaged. There is nothing to 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

indicate that the figures for this county are excep- 
tional. In the entire State the excess on new mort- 
gages for the last two years (1899- 1900), for which 
figures are at present obtainable, was $4,783,969, 
with returns from three counties missing. 

Nor do the records altogether sustain the exultant 
talk about the diffusion of wealth. From statistics 
prepared by the State Government in 1900 it would 
appear that this county's increase of taxable prop- 
erty during the last decade was 73.4 per cent, and 
that some 72 per cent of the population own no 
property whatever. The proportion of property 
owners was 34.5 per cent in 1880, 31.5 per cent in 
1890, and 28 per cent in 1900. The percentage of 
persons owning property up to $2000 in value de- 
clined in the last census decade from 27.1 to 21.8. 
This percentage of the propertyless is exceeded in 
fifteen, and approximated in twenty-four, of the 
ninety-two counties of the State. 

Tenantry is common, though probably stationary. 
A rising rental is exacted; from one-third of the 
product, the rate usual a few years ago, the terms 
have risen to one-half, and a further advance is pos- 
sible. In spite of the demand for farm labor, wages 
are low, averaging $14.36 per month for the State 
and $15.16 for the county. Many farm owners con- 
sider it more profitable to hire labor and work their 
farms themselves than to rent them. The small 
holdings are frequently merged into larger ones, and 
a general tendency to concentration is observable. 
There is good ground for belief that the conditions 
observed here (except, perhaps, those regarding ten- 
xiv 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

antry ) are common to a groat many counties of the 

corn belt. A " prosperity " attended with increased 
mortgage indebtedness, exorbitant rentals, expropri- 
ation of small property owners, and low wages for 
farm laborers, has its evident disadvantages, despite 
the statistical rhapsodists. 

As for the book, there is, at this writing, little 
to change. The facts and tendencies are as stated 
therein, and the logical outcome is that predicted. 
There is, as has been said, a possible alternative out- 
come. That is the assertion of the democratic spirit 
and will, the conquest of the baronial regime, and 
the transformation of the industrial system into that 
of a cooperative commonwealth. There is no pos- 
sible return to competition, free or unfree. The 
great industrial plant of the nation will be run for 
the benefit of the many or for the benefit of the few. 
It lies with the citizenship to determine which form 
it will have. But no escape from baronial dominance 
can come through mere indulgence in the vague hope 

"thai somehow good 
Will ! e the final goal of ill." 

Far less can it come out of the subservience, the 
apathy, and the acquiescence so generally observable 
to-day; less yet out of a blind faith in the "eco- 
nomic inevitability " of a certain form of society. It 
can come only by a collective determination to secure 
the democratic ownership and operation of industry. 

W. J. G. 

New York City, March 2, 1903. 
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